Item arrived in a standard envelope in good condition, not torn or damaged in any way. Inside, the bare light is packed in red bubble wrap. No box, may be a factor to consider if you are planning to get this as a gift.

This review will contain some basic excerpts from the earlier MXDL 1 Watt because they are basically the same build wise. The main difference is this Cree version has an XR-E emitter and textured aluminum reflector, while the original MXDL 1 Watt used a ZX-1 emitter and had a smooth plastic reflector.

As you can see from this image, the emitter is nicely centered with the reflector. The emitter sits perfectly at the bottom of the reflector cup. There is no gap around the emitter, unlike the original MXDL 1 Watt. The reflector is made of aluminum and nicely textured in medium orange peel. Also as you can see from the reflection of the emitter dye, the textured reflector does a pretty good job of focusing output from the XR-E. Since the reflector in this model is metal, it does not suffer from the drawbacks of the original plastic one. This Cree version still uses a plastic lens though, would have been nice if it was glass. While the reflector and lens in the MXDL 1 Watt had some tiny scratches on them, this Cree version is free from any cosmetic defects and perfectly clean of residue too.

When I initially saw images of this light on the site, I was attracted to it's design which was unlike other common 1x AA cell lights. The finishing looked to be great as well. This Cree version was received in much better condition. Although there are some scratches on the body, it's no where near as bad as the MXDL 1 Watt was. The "+" PCB contact is also better, it doesn't have any scratches on it, nice and clean here too. The silver Type 2 anodizing is pretty even, with just minor blemishes here and there. Threads are alright and quite thick, but they don't fit very snugly and have some play between them and the occasional cross-threading does occur. Knurling along the body and tail cap are all nice and even. There are three o-rings, first between the lens and bezel, second between the head and battery tube and last one between battery tube and tail cap. All of them came unlubricated.

The tail cap houses a reverse push button which looks and feels nice and sturdy. The entire switch module is crimped inside the tail cap and can't be easily unscrewed. Clicking mechanism is moderately stiff and smooth. The rubber cap is made of significantly softer rubber with the same sparse stipple texture.

Output is very bright for a single AA powered light, at least for the first 10 minutes. It still maintains slightly brighter output compared to the JETBeam C-LE for the majority of the battery life. A narrow spot bright enough medium range use, it will be too bright for close up work. The tint on my sample is almost perfectly white, with just a very slight yellowish ring around the hotspot. The shallow textured reflector does quite a good job of focusing the XR-E for moderate throw. The characteristic dark ring is present, but only obvious within 1m.

One important drawback to consider about this light is the circuit used. Unlike the original MXDL 1 Watt, and most other lights for that matter, this Cree light will not turn on once battery voltage falls below 1.2V. What this means for you is that once you've drained any alkaline or NiMH cells down till 1.2V or less, you will not be able to turn it on. Practically this will result in an even shorter runtime with intermittent usage because while other lights can still turn on with dimmer output, this light will not turn on at all. If you mainly use NiMH cells, another drawback to this is that charged cells which you have had stored for about a week or more may not be able to power up this light either because their voltage usually normalizes to about 1.18V. My Eneloop cells are about 1.4V fresh off the charger and will stay between the 1.35-1.4V range for a couple of days.

Runtime 1x AA 2000mAh Eneloop Default 01:33 to 50%

The Good - It's cheap, impressive output from a single AA cell. Most of the parts aside from the switch module are easily removable by simply unscrewing, which would make this a good host for modifications. Nicely done textured aluminum reflector, which surprisingly isn't very deep.

The Bad - The machining on the body of this light is a little below standard. Marks can be found all over the metal body, but at least it's slightly better than the original MXDL 1 Watt. Circuit will not power up the light at all when cell voltage falls below 1.2V. Use of a glass lens instead of plastic would have made this light more complete build wise.

The Relative - The reverse push button, some people like it because it reduces the chance of accidental turn on while stored in pockets or bags, others hate it because it doesn't allow momentary on functionality.

Bezel (front view).

Bezel (side view).

Bezel (rear view).

Rubber o-ring (between bezel and lens).

Lens.

Reflector (front view).

Reflector (side view).

Reflector (rear view).

Emitter module (front view).

Emitter module (rear view).

Emitter module (rear view).

Battery tube (front view).

Battery tube (side view).

Battery tube (rear view).

Tail cap (front view).

Tail cap (side view).

Tail cap (rear view).